Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

Karmacat

A clean and tidy house ... what bliss! I'm almost at the stage where I can sweep the floors, but not quite :rotfl:

Hope the new household will be able to take mse ways on board - my brother's taken some things, but switching supplier is currently a step too far for him. I might have another go at him in the new year my sister doesn't need any of it, but isn't a profligate person, so she's okay. She did a lot of "shopping as leisure" when her husband died, and it turns out a lot of it was on the Hotter shoes website, and all of it in the width that fits me, not her so I have a *lot* of Hotter shoes and boots now

The little bits adding up: oh my god, they really do. When I was really going for it, I must have earned £3k in one year. I got £1k just from matched betting, and another £800 or so from mystery shopping. Sources are different now, but I bet you're up there. Comping is something I've never got my head round, but it sounds like you do well at it.

Go for it

themadvix

The 'clean and tidy' house is far from perfect - but the state of the living room had been getting me down, so it feels good to have it tidier!

Lots of Hotter shoes sounds good to me!

I need to get DH back into MBing, we're missing out there (and I do not trust myself not to get into a right mess!).

Karmacat

For the MBing - I always had to set something up a minimum of 2 days, and preferably 3 days, in advance. I used to go back and check it the next day. When I tried again a few years ago, I didn't do that and I lost a whole £1.50 timing wasn't right, so I dropped it anyway, but there's money to be had in them thar hills, no shadow of a doubt

Good luck to your DH!

themadvix

DH did quite well with the MBing - things just got a bit busy and it seemed to be quite time consuming when we also had DIY to do etc.

Productive day today - project arrived and I've got it mostly done. Am waiting on a response to a query from my client and then I can send it back. In between/in the background I've met the SBs stretch target, done some surveys and set up my extra earnings spreadsheet for next year - I'm determined to record things properly in 2018!

MS things:
* £3.50 PA survey
* 102 SBs earned
* VB poll
* Introduced myself to a potential new client
* Have been reading up on Boost Your Income board - I think there's still more to be gained from SBs....
* Feeling virtuous as although tempted by 10% TCB on Just Eat, know we'll have hm stir fry and it'll be every bit as yummy!

Gratitudes:
* The days are getting longer again - hooray!
* May shortly go to see friend for a quick cuppa and to drop her present off (depending on traffic)
* A walk around the local area whilst chatting to my sister on the phone (I don't really like walking on my own, this is a good compromise)
* 4 days of holiday coming right up
* Panettone (sp?) as part of breakfast

Review of the year and plans for 2018 coming up (although not necessarily immediately!)

themadvix

:Forgot to say to everyone :xmassign: - I might not be back on here now until after the day itself.

I hope everyone has a lovely, relaxing and enjoyable Christmas! xx

Karmacat

And the same to you, madvix, a happy, prosperous New Year. Live Long And Prosper, as the half-Vulcan with the pointy ears always says

Busy_Mee1

Happy Christmas - I hope you are having a good one x

themadvix

Thanks Karma and BusyMee! We had an okay Christmas - it was all a bit weird and low key compared to normal for us though. My aunt's dad died a couple of weeks ago, so we didn't do the usual, as she normally hosts; then my uncle (not married to aunt) was ill; and then I wasn't well on Christmas night. To top it all off, after a quiet Boxing Day yesterday, DH spent last night in the bathroom - and is now not back at work today but watching Cars 3 on the sofa! On the whole though, we survived and it was interesting to see how it's not the end of the world if Christmas isn't the usual, traditional one!

We had a lovely surprise at DH's parents at lunchtime. When we arrived and started opening presents, BiL asked me to pass around some envelopes from DH's Nan - the instruction was we all had to open them at the same time.... they should have recorded our reactions in hindsight, she'd given each couple (DH and his two brothers and their partners) cheques for £1,000! As I've mentioned, BiL1 is buying a house and on Saturday BiL2 and his partner (with the baby) got engaged - so all of the money is sure to be put to really good use. We were very surprised!

Decision is out on what to spend it on. For the moment it'll go into DH's PBs... maybe we'll win a million! Some of it might get used to help finish the decorating (although we had put some money aside for that anyway), and/or help with OPs/moving costs in 2019.

Other presents, although less spectacular were generally of the useful/edible variety and we won't need to shop for months now, which is great DH bought me a fitbit, which is brilliant and I've spent the last couple of days marching on the spot when I can't get out of the house.... it might make up for some of the calories I've eaten, but probably not enough of them!

MS things:
* No need to buy food for a while - lots of goodies as presents (and have hidden them so that we don't gorge now)
* £3 won on Christmas Eve scratchcards bought by DH's godparents - money claimed and already in the Sheepbank!
* £1,000 cheque!:eek:
* OP and YG surveys done this morning
* Small amounts of work done this morning - technically I'm available for my clients if they want anything done
* £10.09 cashback claimed from TCB, inc £9 for some trainers that I returned!

Gratitudes:
* Spending time with family over Christmas
* Too much good food to eat
* More time with family

Coming up.... review of the year and plan for next year....

themadvix

2017 didn't go entirely to plan, but there were many positives too:

Target OPs = £10,000
Total OPs = £3,103
Opening balance = £105,451
Closing balance = £96,822 :T

We also
* acquired two nieces (well, almost, the first first birthday is this Friday, but it was almost 2017!)
* holidayed in the Caribbean
* bought and installed a new kitchen
* did two London to Brighton runs and another veteran car run
* camped in Norfolk
* visited York
* visited Manchester and the Lakes
* attended two weddings
* day-tripped to France
* saw Robbie Williams in concert
* I opened an S&S ISA (£626 in there now)

We saved/made money by:
* Eating porridge (cuts down on the milk consumption!)
* Tarting between music streaming services
* Using Meerkat movies in combination with DH's work benefit
* Earning cashback
* Doing surveys
* Swagbucking
* S&S
* Internet monitor (for privacy reasons I've already decided that once I get my end of month payment, I'll be leaving this scheme)
* Not wasting food
* Collecting MS rewards (soon to get £20 of Pizza Express vouchers )
* Winning stuff
* Shuffling money for interest
* Tax money in PBs
* Working on cars ourselves
* MBing (earlier in the year)
* Shopmium
* and a million other things which we do without even thinking about them!

The not-so-good:
* It has been a very poor year workwise (for me, DH has had a pretty good year!) - but things are looking up for 2018
* It's not been great healthwise - I've lost most of the last three months to the virus (I think) and am awaiting cardiology referrals; DH has been ill twice (a month apart exactly) and we both seem to have been plagued by colds more than normal (blaming the nieces and their exposure at nursery). 2018 will be the year when we get fit!

themadvix

With the vague aim of looking to move in March 2019 (right on the Brexit deadline, hence it is a vague plan, but that's when our mortgage fix ends), the plan for 2018 is:

* Get mortgage down to under £90,000 - OPs of £2,000 would do it
* Get savings for moving of ~£5,000
* Complete reimbursement of my buffer fund to £10,000 - £1,800 to go (this is my first aim from my earnings - DH will focus on the OPs and moving savings)
* Finish the painting and decorating (by Feb, health permitting)

We are going to a wedding in Ireland in February and our plan is to go camping in Germany for our main holiday this year. We would also like to fit in a couple of weekends away (cat sitting will hopefully be free!) - obviously on the cheap. The original decorating intention was to be finished by Christmas, giving us a whole year in which we had no need to be thinking 'we should be doing xxxx' in regard to the house. My illness has derailed that plan, but hopefully by the wedding in Feb we'll be there.